Do Land Management Changes Have Effects on Climate as Large as Land Cover Changes?

Julia Pongratz

The study presented in this video evaluates data from observational towers, satellite pictures and other published data to compare the impact of land-cover change and land management change on climate. The results show that land management change within the same vegetation (e.g., harvesting a formerly untouched forest) has effects on climate change that are similarly large as effects of land-cover change (e.g., changing forests into pasture). Thus, JULIA PONGRATZ explains, earth system models which are used to estimate human impact on climate should include changes in land management.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10108

Researcher

Julia Pongratz is member of the Emmy Noether Independent Junior Research Group “Forest Management in the Earth System”, at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg. In 2009 she was awarded the Otto-Hahn-Medal of the Max Planck Society for her doctoral thesis on the effect of land cover change on the climate. .She participated in Fast Track: Excellence and Leadership Skills for Outstanding Women in Science by the Robert-Bosch-Stiftung. Pongratz works with the Department of Land in the Earth System and studies the effect of land management change on our climate.

Max Planck Society

"The Max Planck Society is Germany's most successful research organization. Since its establishment in 1948, no fewer than 18 Nobel laureates have emerged from the ranks of its scientists, putting it on a par with the best and most prestigious research institutions worldwide. The more than 15,000 publications each year in internationally renowned scientific journals are proof of the outstanding research work conducted at Max Planck Institutes – and many of those articles are among the most-cited publications in the relevant field." ( Source )